OTAs
Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Which Is Better for Hosts?
Discover how these popular online rental platforms differ and what they offer to property owners.
Listing vacation rental properties on multiple online platforms is a smart approach for STR hosts. Regarding Airbnb alternatives, you can choose from dozens of booking websites. Major Airbnb competitors include Booking.com and Vrbo, along with smaller platforms such as Furnished Finder, an online portal for monthly furnished rentals.
While Airbnb lets hosts enable monthly stays, Furnished Finder can also be an excellent option if you want to experiment with extended stays to boost occupancy. In this article, we compare Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb to help you determine which site best matches your property type.
Whether renting out an apartment in an urban area or a vacation home at a ski resort, managing your property will be easier if you automate your hosting routine using vacation rental software like Hospitable. Our AI-powered tool can save hours of your precious time a week and help you ensure an exceptional guest experience.
Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Key Differences
Look at this comparison table to see how these popular online platforms differ and what they offer to property owners. We compare Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb across different categories, including the number of listings, global reach, target audience, property types, service fees, and payment options.
| Furnished Finder | Airbnb |
Number of listings | 300,000+ listings | More than 9 million active listings |
Reach | Operates in the United States | Operates in 150,000+ cities and towns in more than 220 countries and regions worldwide |
Target audience | Traveling nurses, medical professionals, business travelers, and relocating families | Adventurous travelers looking for unique experiences, families with kids, business travelers, digital nomads |
Property types | Monthly furnished rentals—houses, apartments, condos, and rooms | Hosts can list entire properties, private rooms, and shared rooms |
Service fees | Hosts pay an annual subscription fee of $199. There are no additional commissions and booking fees | Most hosts pay a single fee of 15.5% of the booking subtotal (typically 14–16%). The split fee, where hosts pay 3% and guests pay 14.1–16.5%, is being phased out. |
Payments | Doesn't process payments—guests pay rent to the property owner directly | Handles all payments and supports different payment methods |
Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Property Types and Target Audience
Furnished Finder is a US niche site focusing on mid-term rentals. These fully furnished properties are available for rent for 30 days or more. Furnished Finder started in 2014 with a focus on traveling nurses and medical professionals, but it also welcomes corporate travelers, remote workers, digital nomads, and relocating families.
Currently, the website has 300,000+ affordable monthly furnished rentals—houses, apartments, condos, and rooms. Furnished Finder also partners with some hotels, providing a platform to promote available units.
Airbnb is an American company founded in 2007, but it operates globally in more than 220 countries and regions. However, its core audience is the US, Germany, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. The online marketplace connects travelers who want to live like locals during their trips and property owners willing to rent their properties to STR guests to get passive income.
Most Airbnb guests are young people in their late 20s/early 30s, and the website is also popular among families with children, business travelers, and digital nomads.
Airbnb allows hosts to list entire properties, private rooms, and shared rooms and classifies the listings into more than 60 different Airbnb categories based on various factors, including location, property style, nearby activities, and more. Now, it boasts more than 9 million active listings, from budget-friendly tiny homes, tree houses, and yurts to luxury villas and castles.
Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Fees and Payments
On Furnished Finder, property owners pay a flat $199 annual subscription fee, and the platform doesn't charge additional commissions or booking fees. Furnished Finder doesn't process payments, so guests pay rent to the property owner directly.
Furnished Finder also gives property owners access to tenant screening, including credit, criminal background, and eviction history reports, typically paid by the tenant, and to online rent collection through its partner, Baselane.
Airbnb handles payments and charges commission for each booking. Airbnb is moving all home hosts to a single fee: guests aren't charged any fees to book a stay, and the entire fee is deducted from the host payout. Most hosts pay 15.5% of the booking subtotal, and the rest typically pay 14–16%. Under the split fee model that's being phased out, hosts pay 3% of the booking subtotal, and guests pay 14.1–16.5%.
Although Airbnb lets you reach a wider audience, its hefty booking fees can significantly cut into your profit margins. But you can save on OTA fees if you create a direct booking website using our dedicated service, Hospitable Direct, and focus on driving repeat direct bookings.
We'll list your property on Google Vacation Rentals so travelers can discover it when using Google to search for a place to stay during vacations. This way, you'll have a chance to get direct bookings without investing in promotion and paying high third-party fees.
Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: How They Work for Property Owners
Hosts can list their properties on Furnished Finder by filling out a form and providing all necessary information for travelers, including property description, price, amenities, images, availability, pet policy, and house rules. Then, Furnished Finder will review your submission to ensure it's suitable for their network of travelers.
Additionally, all property owners must complete ID verification before their listing appears in search results to help ensure traveler safety. Once you register, your rental space will be listed on the Furnished Finder and Travel Nurse Housing websites and the Furnished Finder mobile app.
Travelers who browse listings in the city they're traveling to can send booking requests directly through Furnished Finder. Property owners receive the booking requests via notifications in their dashboards and via email. You'll also get each traveler's contact information so you can decide how best to respond to your potential guests—via text, email, or phone call.
Hosts can list their properties on Airbnb for free—after they sign up, they can create listings in the host section of their profiles. You'll fill out a form with details about your vacation rental, including the type of property, its address, the number of guests, and the amenities you provide. You must also create a detailed description and add high-resolution photos to illustrate it and highlight your best features.
Airbnb gives hosts complete control over their listing policies—you can set your nightly rates and additional fees, minimum stay requirements, cancellation policies, house rules, check-in and checkout time, etc. You can communicate with your guests using Airbnb messaging tools, and once a reservation is confirmed, you can also see the guest's phone number in the reservation details.
Final Thought
The main difference between Furnished Finder and Airbnb is that Furnished Finder is designed for traveling professionals looking for month-to-month furnished housing. That's why properties listed on Furnished Finder usually have a minimum of 30 days to book. Airbnb is a global platform for vacation rentals and stays as short as one night. You can also enable monthly stays to rent out your place for at least 28 days.
